Market Drivers – US Session – 9 March

Mohamed Abdelhamid 10 March, 2022 6:10 am Commodities, Forex Market, Market Update

The American Dollar and commodity prices were sharply down on Wednesday amid hopes for a solution to the Ukraine-Russia crisis.

Economic Data
US oil stockpiles fell across the board last week, the Energy Information Administration said on Wednesday. Crude inventories fell by 1.9 million barrels in the week to March 4 to 411.6 million barrels, below expectations of 657,000-barrel.

Crude stocks at the Cushing, Oklahoma, delivery hub fell by 585,000 barrels in the week to their lowest since August 2018, EIA said. US crude stocks in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve fell to 577.5 million barrels, the lowest since July 2002.

There were 11.3 million job openings in the US in January, which is down 1.6% from December but up 55.7% year over year, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today.

Job openings fell by 288,000 in “accommodation and food services” and by 132,000 in “transportation, warehousing and utilities.” However, they rose month-over-month in “other services,” up 136,000, and in durable goods manufacturing, up by 85,000.

Other Developments
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Ukraine is ready for a diplomatic solution and prepared for certain compromises if the other part compromises too.

European Commission President von der Leyen said that they had purchased enough LNG to be independent of Russian gas till the end of the winter.

Crude oil prices crashed amid prevalent risk appetite and news that Iraq is ready to increase output if OPEC+ requires so. Ihsan Abdul Jabbar Ismail, the Oil Minister, added that the country has about 6% of production as spare capacity, and is producing 4.4 million bpd. It is worth mentioning, however, that at the time being, the country is producing below its quote. WTI is currently changing hands at around $108.00 a barrel.

The EUR/USD pair flirted with 1.1100, ending the day at around 1.1070. GBP/USD posted a modest advance and settled at 1.3160. The AUD/USD pair recovered the 0.7300 threshold, while the USD/CAD pair edged lower and trades around 1.2826. Finally, the USD/JPY pair is back above 115.00.

On Thursday, the European Central Bank will announce its monetary policy decision, and market players are anticipating another round of hawkish words from President Christine Lagarde as inflation in the EU keeps hitting record highs.

At the same time, the US will publish February’s inflation figures. The Consumer Price Index is foreseen at 7.8% YoY, which would be a multi-decade high and may end up pushing the US Federal Reserve into hiking rates by more than just 25 bps.
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